Back on the Gummi ship, I thought about my experiences in Neverland. For the first time in a long time, I had truly enjoyed myself, and somehow I had accessed a new power with my Keyblade. But why? What had triggered the power? Did it have something to do with the fight against Mortem? Was it because I was fighting for my life at that time? Maybe it was, but it felt like there was something more.
As I looked at where Scrooge and Clair were sitting, I thought about our trip to Agrabah. That had ended in disaster because of me. Scrooge acts like he’s okay now, but something didn’t seem right about that. While I was musing over what to do I then heard a noise coming from my pocket. My holo-screen? Pulling it out, I said, “Answer call.”
An image of Sora appeared before me. “Hiya. Is everyone doing okay?”
“Splendid. We just finished a little adventure to Neverland.” Scrooge smiled as he peeked over my shoulder. “Perchance, is my nephew there with you?”
“Right here, Uncle Scrooge,” Donald said as he appeared on the screen.
My cousin then squeezed in. “Why are you calling us?”
“Something’s come up. Can you meet us in Agrabah?” Sora asked.
EINI’S POV
HARTHYN…
I didn’t know so many people could live together in such a small space. How did they not go nuts?! I could barely stand to be at one of my parents’ parties for an hour, and they were usually held somewhere ‘spacious’ and ‘open’. I didn’t know why all the adults were obsessed with ‘spacious’ and ‘open’ places when they just spent their time getting in each others’ personal space anyway.
So of course I ordered some architects to fix this place up. Thanks to its structural position near the bottom of the city, it would probably never be ‘spacious’ or ‘open’ or whatever Mom and Dad think good design is, but it might ease the congestion just a little.
Someone tapped my arm, and I could see one of Brax’s siblings looking up at me with wide eyes, “Are you gonna have them change our neighborhood?”
I crouched down, “I have to wait and see what the architects think is a good idea, but I’d like to. Is there anything you want me to ask them to do…?” I paused, “I’m sorry, what’s your name again?”
“I’m Craig,” The boy explained, “They’re not gonna change our house too much are they?”
“Why wouldn’t you want your house to change? They’d just rearrange it to make it a little bigger. Wouldn’t you like that?”
“It’s cause I don’t wanna lose the growing door,” He explained.
“The what now?”
A girl about my age walked up behind Craig, “It’s kind of our little family thing. I can show you if you want.” She held out her hand to shake mine, “I’m Lindsay, by the way.”
I shook her hand, “I’m Eini. And sure, I’d like to see this thing.”
Lindsay led me through the house, around some of her siblings who were scrambling to get ready. I could see the older ones helping the younger ones with buttons and zippers. It was weird. Nobody had helped me with those since… I guess I had a vague recollection of one of my nannies helping me when I was little, but the youngest one here had to be at least five.
“Here it is,” Lindsay snapped me out of my thoughts. I saw she was pointing to an old door that had all kinds of marks on it. By each mark, I could see a name and an age. “Every time one of us has a birthday, we put a mark on the door to show how much they’ve grown. It’s… kind of important to the younger ones right now…” she said as she crouched down and ran her fingers over a mark labeled ‘Marcas- 2 years’. She looked like she was about to cry, “They loved their baby brother, and Craig especially thinks we’ll forget him if we don’t keep these memories around.” She looked at me and smiled, but I knew she was crying inside, “It must seem silly to you, huh?”
I shrugged, “A Verugian Knight would be strange to a Hocamli Brave… My parents got rid of everything from when I was little. They’re all about big, empty spaces, you know?”
Lindsay seemed shocked, “Everything? What about your baby blanket?” I nodded, “Your stuffed toys?” I nodded, “Your growth files?” I nodded again, “Wow…”
“It’s whatever,” I lied, “But I can certainly ask the architects to talk with you and the other residents about what to keep if it’s that important to you.” The second part wasn’t a lie. I knew what it felt like to have some distant person want to erase you, and it wasn’t a feeling I wanted to pass on if I could help it.
“Thank you,” Lindsay breathed.
“Hey, no problem,” I replied. I hesitated a moment, “Can you show me around some more? I’d like to meet the rest of your siblings, too, if that’s okay.”
Lindsay blinked, “Sure.”
“And one more thing: while we’re out, feel free to get anything you want. That goes for all of you,” I told her as I pointed to myself, “This girl hasn’t gone on a good shopping spree in ages but the station is too small for me to only buy things for myself.”
“Thanks but no thanks,” Lindsay replied, “We don’t like to take advantage of people.”
“Don’t think of it that way,” I gave her a nudge with my elbow, “Think of it as I’m going to turn a mountain into a valley and someone is going to reap the benefits. I’m asking you guys to be that someone, and if you don’t take me up on it, I’ll just find someone else to take me up on it, mmkay?”
Lindsay looked hesitant, “It’s a lot of money…”
“You know my last name is Krista, right?” I put my hands on my hips, “I’ve turned my nose up at complimentary gifts that cost more than all the rent in this neighborhood combined. Money is not an issue.” I smiled, “Besides, you would look great in some sparkly stuff.”
Lindsay looked down, “It feels wrong to ask, but… Well… Blair, Craig, Ellie, and Fi are outgrowing their clothes…”
“No problem! What else?”
“Ross and Scott need new winter boots…”
“Great! Come on, what else?”
“I… can’t think of anything else we need…”
“Then what’s something you want?” I pressed, “It doesn’t necessarily have to be for you. Can you think of anything you’d like for your mom? Or your Dad? Or any of your siblings?”
Lindsay looked around before she lowered her voice, “I’ve always wanted to get Mom some new appliances to help her out around the house… The stuff in the kitchen is older than she is…”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” I grinned, pulling up my favorite stores on my holo-screen. “Hmm… let’s see… Nancy Dancy has a sale on appliances today, so I can find a good fit there. Oh, and I can put you down for a personalized home mech if you want.”
“You mean we wouldn’t have to do chores?”
“Yeah!”
To my surprise, their faces fell. “Then we’ll lose some of our games.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“It’s a tradition of sorts,” Lindsay explained. “We turn our chores into fun activities. For example, sometimes pieces of laundry don’t finish drying so before they go in we make bets on what will still be wet when it comes out. It’s a fun guessing game.”
I blinked at that. They did chores AND they got fun out of it?! What did people do down here that we didn’t do up on the higher levels? They were not as well off as we were, and yet it seemed like they found ways to be content with their situation. Well, thankfully I was here to help improve their lives.
There was a knock on the door and we noticed Braxton’s dad had stuck his head in. “Everyone ready to go?”
“We’re ready!” Some of the younger ones exclaimed, “Eini said she was gonna get us some new clothes!”
Braxton’s dad looked at me, “Did she, now? That’s very nice of her.”
I shrugged, “Shopping is what I do best.”
For some reason, he seemed saddened by that, but he smiled at his kids, “Well, let’s not spend too long shopping. I’m sure we’re all very hungry for lunch!”
I nodded, even though I had to wonder why they seemed reluctant to let me buy stuff for them. It was free stuff. Didn’t people like free stuff? I realized I hadn’t responded, “Why don’t we take the Float Boat?”
Before anyone could take me up on it, Gracie spoke up, “The Float Boat you rented only seats eight people. We’d have to order a bigger one to seat everybody, and it would take their pilot an hour to get here and swap them out…”
“Why don’t we walk?” Braxton’s dad suggested, “This may not be the fanciest place in Netokan, but it’ll be safe for all of us to walk together. It might let out some of that energy from being cooped up in the station for so long.”
Walk? But that… wait. Maybe it could give me a good idea of what in these levels needs renovation. This could be an opportunity that I’ve been waiting for. “Just let me give the driver instructions, and then I’ll be ready to go.”
I ordered an upgrade to a bigger Float Boat and instructed the driver to meet us at the shopping center between this level and the next one up so he could drive us back. With that, all fourteen of us left the house.
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